Many would consider being knighted or otherwise honored by England’s royals a dream come true. But more than 200 rebellious Brits have declined or returned the honor, refusing to hand their names and legacies over to rulers seeking to bolster their own dubious reputations. John Lennon and authors Roald Dahl and C.S. Lewis are on that list.

British artist Richard Hamilton, whose work was highly critical of consumerism and politics, died Tuesday at 89 while preparing a retrospective of his art. Among his many achievements, Hamilton designed the minimalist white cover for the Beatles album that bears no name.

The Beatles played their iconic songs in countless legendary venues, but until Tuesday their music had yet to conquer one crucial platform: iTunes. That’s about to change, thanks to a long-awaited and now done deal between the band and Apple Inc.

The following is an interview with professor Noam Chomsky examining the question of why the counterculture, which had been so endemic to the politics of dissent in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, no longer seems to exist in any viable way.

Is it possible to pluck the Beatles’ psychedelic classic “Yellow Submarine” out of its original 1968 context, remake it and plunk it down somewhere around the year 2012 ... just in time for the London Olympics?

It’s been a long, drawn-out process involving a series of completely inscrutable hairstyle choices, but legendary music producer Phil Spector was convicted of second-degree murder on Monday for the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.

While the publicists have made it clear this isn’t a reunion, Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will be playing the same charity event next month. The surviving Beatles will appear in support of eccentric filmmaker David Lynch’s foundation, which hopes to teach transcendental meditation to a million at-risk kids.